


Folded Paper

by rantarous



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Childhood Friends, F/M, Fluff, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, but they figure it all out in the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-08
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-06-27 12:08:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19790581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rantarous/pseuds/rantarous
Summary: The moment when Kaede couldn't tell if Rantarou was the one behind the letter she'd found inside her locker.





	1. Conflicting Emotions

‘‘Amami-kun, you know I can take care of you just fine." Kaede whined and flopped down on the matt that lay by his bed. "My mother always takes care of me when I am sick."

Rantarou started to cough and covered his mouth, wrinkling his nose as his throat began to feel dry. He cleared it before speaking, "are you trying to act like my mother then?" He snickered.

Kaede blinked and rubbed her chin in thought, actually taking his half-of-a-joke question into consideration. Not that he didn't expect it; he sort of did. But even if he anticipated it, he couldn't help the sloppy smile from forming. "Yep!"

He gave her a blank look and started to rub the side of his neck. He slightly tilted his head to the side, sort of fascinated with the determination she displayed. "You know we are the same age, right?" He raised both of his brows mockingly, his glasses glinting.

"Yeah I know, so what?" Kaede scuffed and picked up the hair tie from the desk. She rolled the sleeves of her school uniform and gave him the thumbs up all the while she grinned.

It was quite reassuring, Rantarou silently thought, to have her by his side like this.

"It shouldn't matter. I will take care of you so stop whining already. Auntie herself told me I should if you happened to be sick while she was at work. We run into each other earlier and asked me to come over."

He sighed, slightly disappointed. “So you’re only here because you were following her request?”

Kaede shook her head and took a couple of strides to stand beside him, dishevelling his hair with her fingers before she gently shoved his head to the side. A little gasp of surprise escaped his lips, sounding a little choked because of his blocked nose. She laughed, ruffling just a little more to feed on her amusement. _How childish,_ he momentarily thought, before he gently shoved her hand away. Which wasn't much because of the cold. “Of course, I wouldn’t be here just because she told me to. Don’t be ridiculous. I would come whether I was asked to or not.” She continued and snorted as she stared at the hopeless hair. “Anyways," she clapped her hands together. "I will go out to buy some stuff. Anything in particular that you want?”

He shook his head. “Anything will do.” He answered and Kaede grinned, raising both of her thumbs before she exited the room.

“Ah, wait Akamatsu-san,”

The voices were so damn loud.

“Yeah?” She asked, her head peeking through the door frame.

“Did you ever want something more between yourself and a friend?”

She blanched. 

"Are you flirting with me?"

“I was just asking, stop fabricating fairy tales in your head.” He muttered and wrinkled his nose. “I would never.”

“You’re more sick than I thought you were,” she laughed. “Just go to sleep Amami-kun.”

-x-

The second time he’d attempted to subtly transmit his feelings was during recess. The two sat in the empty classroom while most of their friends had gone out to play outside. However, Rantarou and Kaede had to stay behind since they’d been tossing notes back and forth during class and ended up getting caught in the end. Kaede sighed and crossed her arms, frustrated.

“Why the long face? He asked, amused.

“I shouldn’t have started this,” she groaned and dropped her head on the table.

“Yeah, maybe you shouldn’t have.” He replied, subtly leaning forward to examine her forehead to see if it had reddened.

She glared in silence and he laughed, lifting his hands up in his defence and batted his eyelashes in innocence. Sighing, she lifted her head to look outside. His eyes followed her gaze and they landed on Tsumugi. She and another person stood by a tree as the person in front of her passed her a piece of paper.

“How cute,” she commented, her fist resting on her cheek. Rantarou tilted his head.

“What’s so cute about passing a paper to someone else?” He asked, curious, his eyes remaining on the two who were now exchanging small words.

“That’s a confession, you know?” She replied, holding back a laugh as if it was weird he hadn't thought of that. “I like it when people confess through their writing. I mean, the fact that they pure all their feelings on a paper is pretty cool. I like it.”

Rantarou nodded his head and nibbled on his bottom lip. “Even if that person was to be me?”

Kaede raised her eyebrows. He thought she didn’t take him for serious and it really showed. Her fingers tapped on the desk and her eyes glistened. Not because she was touched or anything. She looked amused.

“As if that would happen.” 

His heart ached. “Definitely not.”

“Just don’t try to pull a prank a prank on me.” She laughed, nudging him.

He smiled. “I wouldn’t.”

  
-x-

Coming to this conclusion took weeks of contemplating. From backing out to going in. Wrinkled up papers, bad wording, setbacks. But thinking of her — thinking of Kaede, she could only react two ways. That's what Amami convinced himself with. Kaede would either replicate his feelings or would generously decline his confession. Then perhaps things could go back to the way they were, sans mentioning the awkwardness they would have to face in the beginning. A strong friendship couldn't possibly be ruined by making a confession right?

That’s what he’d been telling himself all along, but he definitely hadn’t expected this from Kaede. Of all things.

The once neatly and delicately folded up paper had been crumpled up and the envelope was shredded into little tiny pieces as it covered the surface of the rubbish bag beside the corner of the shoe lockers. Rantarou directed his gaze towards the entrance of the building in hopes of locating Kaede, since they’d normally walked home together and waited for him there. But she was no where to be seen.

Rantarou shook his head, dispersing the cloud that had formed a fog in his head and looked back at the bin, pulling out the wrinkled up paper. He dared himself to scan it one more time with a clenched jaw, then decided to throw it back inside.

_Was him confession really that terrible? Would it harm their bond for good?_ He wondered, biting at the end of his nails.

“Tarou-kun?”

Rantarou started. Of course he recognised the voice right away, but even if he did, he couldn't bring himself to look at her. Not yet. He buckled up his shoulders and walked straight past her shoulders before he could change his mind.

He was willing to give her a listen, however not for the time being.

“Wait Taro—” Kaede stopped herself. Rantarou didn't say anything, but after he walked far enough to reach the entrance of the school, he dared take a glance behind him and sure enough, she wasn't there anymore.


	2. Doubts

It was weird, because Rantarou always arrived first in class ever since he'd become the class rep. It was usually because he had things he wanted to work on and organise before classes started. Of course, naturally, there were days he didn't come because he was sick or had other things that hindered him from doing so (which was a seldom occurrence), but Kaede ruled that out without even dwelling on it. He would at least let her know beforehand, and if he hadn't told her, Kirumi would arrive early since she was the vice president, which also hadn't happened in that case.

Kaede thought it could be because of yesterday, but another part of her thought it wasn’t likely.

It just wasn't. It couldn't be real anyway.

But then, her pondering and excessive thinking came to an end after she heard the creaking sound of the door opening. Rantarou entered the classroom and sat down in silence, which was out of his character she'd thought. He normally smiled or whispered a little greeting before he proceeded to take his seat. Or maybe he didn't do it because he couldn't. He had come to class rather late, so that could be it, and with their teacher staring daggers at him from across the room, that could also be another explanation.

"Did something happen to you?" Shuichi whispered, leaning from the right side of his seat. "It’s unusual to see you this late."

“Dad left early this morning so I had to take care of some stuff.” Rantarou sighed, pulling out his notebook and pen out of his bag.

“Even something like that wouldn’t make my beloved Amami-chan _this_ late.” Kokichi commented in an amused tone from the left side of Rantarou, with him also sharing an adjacent seat to him. Kaede usually attentively listened to the lesson, since she didn't want to miss any crucial information that might help her do well in her exams, but because Rantarou, Shuichi and Kokichi were all sitting in the row to her front and she could somewhat hear them mumble, she couldn't help but want to stretch an ear to hear them better. Not to only know the reason itself, but to also make sure it wasn’t linked to yesterday.

But she quickly figured there was no point of doing that and he would let know if he wanted to. Instead, she turned her attention to the physics class and listened, and after a day she felt like dragged on for far more than necessary, the classes eventually came to an end. Their last teacher handed out a stack of papers to the students in the front so they could pass it onto the ones seated behind them.

"Another fuckin’ class project within the same month?" Miu groaned. "He is taking the mick out of us I swear…”

“I don’t think this one is that bad. You get to choose who you want to work with at least.”

“What? For real?!”

Kaede frowned. “Don’t tell me you weren’t listening the whole time?”

“Naaah, I dozed off in the middle of it.” Miu admitted and rubbed the sleep away from her eyes, yawning with her mouth entirely agape. “It was boring and I went to sleep late last night.”

“Ah, to finish your own project, right?” Kaede asked, clapping her hands together.

“Heck yeah!” She answered and yanked out some beaten up papers from beneath her desk to slam it down onto Kaede’s with so much enthusiasm it vibrated. “It’s dope! It's not finished yet, but you’ve got to come and take a look once I complete it. The pleasure you will fuc—”

“And what could it be this time?” Kokichi asked from where he sat, looking at Miu with a smile akin to the ones kittens pulled.

“Ugh, as if I would tell you.”

Kokichi pouted. “Saying it like that only makes me more curious,” he said and left his seat, skipping towards hers. “Come on now, let me know.”

Kaede looked at the two bicker, amused, before she heard someone clear their throat and turned her head to look. Rantarou's arm hung over the backrest of his chair, and he waved the paper that was distributed in his hand from side to side. He extended it to her once her attention was on him. “Too immersed in those two that you couldn't even hear me, huh?”

Kaede reluctantly collected the sheet from him, feeling something cold crawl from beneath her skin the second the side of their fingers barely brushed. Her body never reacted this way and honestly didn't know what to make of it, but surprisingly enough, she didn't mind it all that much.

“Ah sorry, I didn’t notice.”

Rantarou let his brows gather, and looked at her as if she'd spoken a language he didn't fully comprehend before clearing his throat. “You know, It’s really not like you to apologise for something as little as that." He tilted his head before he quickly followed up with, "well to me, at least.” He continued, turning his body around to make it easier for the two to communicate. He scooted his chair closer, and then rested his arms on her table. “You don’t have anything after school today, right?” He pouted.

“Yeah, I don’t.”

“Then let’s go home together.”

“But didn’t we always?” Kaede asked, ignoring the way she felt a dense lump materialise itself at the brim of her throat.

"Yeah, but because we didn't for nearly a week, I just wanted to make sure."

"I mean, of course," Kaede answered, puzzled. "We always go home together if we're both free."

He stood up from his seat after he had collected all of his materials and swung his bag over his shoulder. “Let’s get going then.” He said, ignoring the way she scrunched up her nose in puzzlement and went for the door. Kaede unceremoniously shoved all of her stuff inside her bag once she'd realised he was already at the exit and took double steps in order to fall in pace with him.

"You never ask me such questions. You're being weird today."

Rantarou shrugged, gripping the strap of his school bag. "Not really."

-x-

“Don’t you think it’s a little too cold for ice-cream, Rantarou-kun?”

“Can’t really blame me though." He defended himself with a laugh. "You kept staring at the ice-cream in a way that made it seem like you wanted it, and once I picked it up for you, you didn’t oppose the idea.” He replied, unwrapping his own ice cream.

The streets were almost empty and deserted, and the shopkeepers were starting to wish each other a good evening as they started to close up their stores with bright smiles that resembled the sunlight. Despite the air being somewhat tense, at least the weather was mesmerising. Kaede gently bit the corner of her ice cream as she lifted her head to admire the skyline during the sunset, feasting her eyes on the clouds and the sun as well, who were just about to rest. Just like the shopkeepers, she thought with a chuckle.

Rantarou blinked, licking the excess ice cream off of his lips with a flick of the tongue. “Always fascinated by this scenery whenever we walk by it huh...” He commented to fill in the silence as he stared at the remnants of summer. The leave's emerald green colour was transforming into a golden, orange one as October was just round the corner. Some leaves already littered the ground and some were on the verge of falling.

Kaede stopped and forced her eyes away from the horizon. Rantarou probably noticed as well, because his body tensed.

“You know there’s nothing wrong with that. I meant it in a good way.” He clarified after seeing the expression she’d pulled and extended his hand to pat her on the shoulder, showing her he didn’t mean it as an insult or anything of that sort. “I find it beautiful as well,” he added. “And I know it’s going to be an amazing path for you to follow like you had always wanted to.”

“Right, it would be.” Kaede droned, throwing the packaging of the ice-cream inside the bin. “But you know how my mother feels about it.”

Rantarou nodded, since he himself knew and saw the way she got reprimanded once she had told her mother what she was interested in pursuing. But, even if she wasn’t too thrilled about the news, she wasn’t entirely angry about it either.

“She will come to understand,” Rantarou replied. “We were much younger when you had told her, maybe that's why she reacted the way she did. Let's just give it a second chance when we are in our last year.”

“I have to, because you know, I am still passionate about it.” Kaede said with a soft smile, feeling her stomach become all fuzzy and bubbly at the thought of studying astronomy. “Don’t you think so as well? Don’t you think it’s best to choose something you will enjoy?”

Rantarou pinched the tip of his nose between his finger and his thumb as he carefully considered the question, and Kaede used that time to her advantage to study him, noticing his nose turning into a pretty shade of red. It was probably due to the cold, but either way, she couldn't deny the fact that he'd looked a bit cute this way. She was tempted to give it a little squeeze, but managed to fight off the urge. “I would do the same. I would much rather choose something I enjoy.” He paused before he showed a forced smile of embarrassment. “Although I still don’t know what I want to do…”

Kaede snorted and jabbed him on the shoulder. His breath got caught in his throat, wincing. "No need to stress over it. You still have another year," she grinned. "I can always help."

He huffed, rubbing his hands together before he shoved them inside his pockets to protect them from the cold. He momentarily squinted his eyes as the wind blew towards their direction. “Hearing that come from you? It must be easy to say that.”

Kaede lifted the corners of her lips as her expression formed into a smile. "Remember how you’d wanted to become an artist — like a year ago? Did that change?"

He shrugged, running his tongue across his top teeth. "I still like sketching and everything, but I am not sure if that’s something I would like to pursue.” He answered, inclining his head backwards a bit. "It’s more like something I enjoy doing during my spare time. Nothing more."

"But that doesn’t change the fact that I will still be of help.” Kaede added. “How about you end up joining my club?"

Rantarou gave her a hopeless smile. "You won’t give up on that one, will you?"

"I still believe you would be an amazing pianist," she replied, and tapped her chin as she searched around her brain to find a good reason before her features lit up, and Rantarou raised one brow curiously, himself eager to hear what she had to propose. "You know the one time you came to see me play? You looked like you were enjoying yourself behind the keys when we played together."

"You think so?" Rantarou asked and Kaede gave him a nod, excited because it genuinely seemed as though he was taking it into consideration. But then, the look disappeared and was replaced by a frown. His teeth dug into his bottom lip as he stared at her, and Kaede furrowed her eyebrows, befuddled. 

"What’s with the sudden change? Did I say something you didn’t like?"

"Well, I just figured out why you always tend to fall sick during this time." He muttered and kicked a rock that was in the way, hiding the lower part of his face under his scarf.

Kaede raised her brow before she looked down at the jacket she hadn't bothered to zip. "It’s not even that cold, it’s only September."

"Maybe," he dragged and stopped in his tracks to tug at her jacket, zipping it all the way up in her stead. "But you can’t deny that it’s cold." He reasoned.

“Are you my dad now?” She pouted her cheeks. He only gave her a blank expression in return, as if exasperated.

“I just don't want you to get sick,” he reasoned, his fingers lingering on the zip. "Your fevers are the worse during this season."

Huffing, she let out a breath before she even found the chance to come up with an answer (she felt so powerless because of him, it was ridiculous) and averted her gaze to stare elsewhere, surging down the panic. Their proximity was a little too close, and she didn’t exactly know what to do with her eyes when his face was up close like that. God. In the end, she managed to choke, “But I don’t really feel cold.”

Rantarou gave her a challenging stare, dipping his head to take a better look at her since she’d turned her head and grinned, giving her a little tap on the head. "That’s not what you were saying earlier though. Weren’t you complaining about the ice-cream and how cold it was?” He hummed, his smile unfading. Kaede noticed his cheeks were now dusted red like his nose, his eyes fluttered shut. She didn’t know if it was because of the wind or if it wasn't, but she knew she could practically count the amount of eyelashes decorating his eyelids. It was pretty.

She gulped and without thinking twice of it, she elevated her hand to touch his face, her palm resting on his cheek. 

It fit well.

“What are you doing?”

“Ah—, I just thought your face looked a little cold. Your cheeks and nose are all red.” Her thumb slowly ran across his cheekbone. It lingered on there for a few seconds and before she could get any more greedy, she let it fall back.

Rantarou cleared his throat, his own hand leaving the top of her head to return it back inside his pocket. “Did you understand what I said?" He continued, glancing at her for a second before he looked away. It looked like he was holding back a sigh.

So she opted on ignoring it and decided to answer his question. "That I need to take better care of myself?"

He merely hummed and resumed walking, and Kaede nearly tripped on her shoes as she hurriedly tried to keep up with him. He then stopped, brows gathered in concern and waited on her.

They then continued to amble down the streets and talked about whatever that came to their minds, and without even noticing, she realised they already stood at her house. Kaede felt her heart skip, and clench to the point it hurt. It was a little upsetting, she thought with a frown, since she hadn’t found the chance to ask him about the letter during their brief walk. It was just that she hadn't figured out how to casually approach the subject.

Without uttering a word, he waved his hand and started to head towards his own house, while Kaede looked at him, confused. “Where are you going?”

He pointed his finger across the street like that was meant to be obvious. “Home?”

“No, I mean, we usually do our homework together when we come back.” Kaede stated as she'd rubbed her arm with her hand, her teeth on the verge of clattering because the cold air easily penetrated through her attire, or maybe that was a lie. Maybe it was because she felt a bit nervous. “Last time, it was at your house, remember?”

He stopped in his tracks as his hand slowly fell back to the side. He breathed, and small puffs of air came out of his lips in a trail as they had formed a cloud in front of him. He eventually nodded, and reached her side to securely wrap an arm around the one she had rubbed against the cold. Lowering his head, she could sense his lips near her ear, practically because she could feel his breath ghost over the shell of it before he whispered something along the lines of _'was just joking'_ before he let her go, and left her behind to head towards the front door. She almost lost her balance because of that. Which was absurd, but then again, she’d been on the edge about literally anything he did.

“That was a joke?” She asked with a raised brow, sceptical and uneven breaths working through her chest.

"Yeah it was," he replied. His knuckles were pale, his hand holding onto the door handle with tightness. "Hurry up, it's cold. You're literally shaking." He continued, his eyes flickering to her arm for a second to further prove his point.

Kaede tilted her head with furrowed brows. She didn’t buy his lie, but decided not to press further. “That’s a weird joke then.”

He just smiled and pushed the door open.

"Rantarou-kun! It’s been a while!" They immediately heard Kaede’s mother greet him the second they stepped inside the house. “Where have you been for the past week?” She continued to ask. “It’s a bit odd since you normally come see us twice or thrice a week, so it kind of felt like we were missing another family member, you know?”

“I have been busy doing uh—” he paused, and Kaede gave him a glance from the corner of her eyes, noticing he struggled to come up with a decent reason on the spot since her mother could easily tell when he lied. He fumbled with the straps of his bag with uncertainty lurking around his eyes before he, too, gave her a sneaky glance. He twisted his lip to the side, as if asking for her help and his message transmitted to her without a hitch.

“He’s been busy with club activities,” Kaede answered. “And his father fired the old babysitter, so he has to look after his younger sisters.”

Her mother’s chin jutted out before she nodded her head. “Ah, I see, it must have been tough then...” she droned, and after a minute passed her eyes began to change colour, resembling a candle. Kaede sighed, regretting the lie she’d fabricated after recognising her reaction. “How about they come stay at our house? I can look after them until your father finds a babysitter.”

Kaede sighed in relief. For _once_ , a normal recommendation and then, she peered at Rantarou, curious and bit her lips.

He looked relieved just as much — or maybe, just a little more. His chest slowly fell after having held his breath in anticipation. To be honest, his reaction was reasonable and completely understandable. Her mother once had him wear a cat costume when he was young (apparently it was a good idea and he’d looked cute) and had him show it off to her friends by walking back and forth like a model. After such a mortifying event, she could only understand why he still harboured some sort of trust issues when she was about to recommend something. Especially when she appeared excited about it and it had him involved in a way.

Kaede let an accidental snort escape and Rantarou fixed his gaze on her, his expression as blank as it could get, which made it all the more amusing. He probably had figured out what was crossing her mind, because each time her mother mentioned having an idea of any sort while the two of them were in the same room, she couldn’t help it. As a result, the complexion of his cheeks changed by a small margin.

“What are you so amused about?” He finally asked, and although the way he’d asked the question might have appeared normal to anyone else, she was able to perceive the slight pinch of annoyance lingering behind his vocals.

“Hey mum,” Kaede started and her mother looked back at her, curious. “Do you still have those pictures of Tarou-kun when he wore the cat costumes?”

“Yeah, of course I do. As a matter of fa—”

Her mother got interrupted by the sudden sound of foot crashing against the staircase before Kaede’s cousin, Asahi, came into view, wearing perhaps the biggest smile she’d ever seen him sport. He automatically threw himself against Rantarou, and Rantarou being used to this at this point, wrapped his arms around him and steadied the both of them. He gave Asahi a few swirls upon his request, and then gently put him down on his feet.

“I am so glad you came!” He exclaimed, smiling from ear to ear, his small hands curling into fists as he stared up at Rantarou in admiration.

The way they’d gotten along sometimes made her question if the one he was related to was her or Rantarou. But it couldn't be helped. Rantarou got along with children way better than she did, willingly listening to them ramble about nonsense for hours to no end and sometimes even went as far as to tell them as many stories as they’d wanted.

Kaede deadpanned. “Asahi, calm down. Rantarou only came to work o—”

Asahi turned to Kaede. “How did you know I would come today?”

“I didn’t.”

He pouted. “Then why is Amami-kyun here?”

“Because we’ve got to work on our homework,” she answered, ushering him towards her mother. “Now, get going. Continue playing with your toys.”

But he outright ignored her, turning his back to her. “Then, he can also help me with my homework,” Asahi suggested and turned to Rantarou to flash a smile, persistently tugging at his school shirt as if that would help, “right, Amami-kyun?”

Rantarou nodded and hadn’t looked at Kaede, who gave him a look that literally translated to _‘say no’_ and picked Asahi up. He sat him down on his shoulders, and Asahi wasted no time to start playing with his hair. 

“Mum, can you show me the pictures please?”

“I didn’t know you were _that_ interested.” Her mother laughed and pulled out her phone, scrolling through her gallery photos. “I definitely have those pictures of Rantarou-kun somewhere in here, but I don't remember which album it’s in.” She said with a sigh and dramatically rested a hand on her cheek. “Why do I have so many pictures transferred on here to begin with…”

“Pictures of Amami-kyun? Show me! Show me!”

Rantarou counted to three and twirled around. Asahi shrieked with a loud giggle, holding onto Rantarou’s shoulders so he wouldn’t fall. If that was him trying to keep him distracted from the phone, then it’d worked perfectly. “That’s not important right now, let’s work on your homework first, alright?”

Rantarou went for the stairs after Asah had agreed, but paused once he set a foot on the staircase. He turned to face Kaede.

“Aren’t you coming?” He asked, and although Asahi glared and stuck out his tongue as a way to shoo Kaede away, she wasn’t having it.

"Of course."

-x-

Kaede gnawed at the brim of her pen, glaring at the backs of Rantarou and Asahi as they sat together. They clearly weren’t studying, she thought in annoyance, since Asahi somehow managed to convince Rantarou to play and have a car race across her room to see who would win first. Rantarou let win him each round until he easily won in his stead in the last round.

Asahi groaned and threw the car across her room. It hit the wall with a loud boom before it fell on the ground. "It’s not fair!" He raged, crossing his arms across his chest.

Kaede flipped another page, not bothering to take her eyes from her books after she gave up on making Rantarou study with her; sulking just like Asahi was, but for a different reason. "Don’t you think he was nice enough to let you win eleven times in a row?"

“Well, isn’t that because I am good?”

"Maybe, but failure happens and it’s okay. Just try to beat him next time." Kaede replied and lazily raised her eyes to look at Rantarou to see why he’d suddenly become so quiet. To her surprise, he was already looking at her with tilted lips, listening to her speak to Asahi about his defeat. He looked amused to a degree but also regretful, probably because he was the reason behind Asahi's frustration. Kaede shrugged off the sudden palpitations that’d jolted her awake and swirled the pen between her fingers, getting back to jotting down some notes on Rantarou’s exercise book since it was the closest thing within her reach.

"Are you not going to help Asahi with his homework?" She tried to ask, practically burying her face in his book.

"Turns out he doesn't have any." Rantarou answered, as he left her bed to take a seat beside her. He patted the spot beside himself so Asahi could join the two of them, and he did with puffed cheeks.

"By the way Tarou-chan, I think you should finish up quickly so you don’t go home late tonight."

Rantarou raised his brow. "Isn't it only seven?”

"But you no longer have a babysitter to look after your sisters, remember? Mum will be suspicious if she sees you stay late." Kaede reasoned in a whisper so that Asahi wouldn’t hear her, and Rantarou let a small “oh” sound slip, nodding his head as if he’d forgotten. To be honest, she didn’t want him to leave just yet since they hadn’t had the chance to spend time together for an entire week, which normally for others, wasn’t much of a big deal. But for them, it was different. They were used to it. Rantarou himself didn’t look too happy once she reminded him, and to have her witness that made her heart rattle against its cage.

Asahi climbed on Rantarou’s back, wrapping his arms around his neck. "Can you at least try to stay until dinner?" He suggested and wrapped his hands around Rantarou’s cheeks, playfully moving his head from side to side. "You know, I am leaving tomorrow morning. It would be nice if you could do that for me."

Rantarou bit his lips, and Kaede took note of that, knowing damn well that was something he did once he was upset. She automatically assumed it was because of Asahi and tried to get him off of him but Rantarou wrapped his fingers around her wrist, and gave her a look, as if saying there was nothing to worry about.

Kaede, quiet, returned back to the side, and observed Rantarou gently remove Asahi’s hands with his own and smiled once their eyes connected. It was the kind of smile he would make knowing Asahi wasn't going to be happy with his following words. "Asahi-kun, they can’t stay home by themselves. They're the same age as you, you know? And it would be dangerous if they stayed alone any longer. Maybe we can play more next time?" Just as expected, Asahi frowned and climbed off Rantarou’s back. He mumbled some incoherent words under his breath before storming for the door and slammed it behind.

"I thought you were mad with Asahi-kun." Kaede breathed.

"I wasn’t. Why would you think that?"

"I just thought you—" Kaede stopped herself and instead, rested a hand on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze.

Rantarou sighed, and fished his hand inside his bag to search for something. He eventually pulled out a candy he’d brought earlier for his sister on their way home. “Here,” he said and dropped it in her hand. “Give that to him and tell him it’s a present from me.” He then started to shove the remaining of his books sprawled across the table inside his bag.

Kaede frowned.

"In the end, we didn’t do anything."

Rantarou rubbed the back of his neck. "Asahi wanted to play, it couldn’t be helped." He then paused; hesitantly staring at her with connected brows. "I almost forgot to tell you but I won’t come to class tomorrow, so text me in case I end up missing anything worth mentioning."

Kaede blinked, confused. "Why not?"

"I have something to do," he slowly replied, as if thinking she would know his reason. But Kaede’s lips twisted instead.

"You know, today you lied two times. And right now— that makes it three times."

Rantarou raised his brows.

He stopped zipping his bag and placed it down on the table, turning to face her. "Are you sure it was three times?"

Kaede pressed her lips and averted her eyes. "I think so?"

His stare lingered and then, he shook his head with a laugh, standing up. "I see, then it doesn’t matter." He said and started to make his way out. “I will see you later.”

"Ah, wait…" Kaede started. "There’s something I wanted to ask you.”

“What is it?” He casually asked and turned his head with a quirked brow, his bag slung over his shoulder.

Kaede deeply inhaled as her fingers fumbled with the distributed sheet. She folded and unfolded the edge of the A4 paper nervously, her perspiration starting to formulate on her forehead with her hair sticking to the surface. "The letter…"

His eyes slightly grew before it went back to normal. It was so fast she thought she’d hallucinated. "A letter?"

Kaede blanked and stopped playing around with the paper. Then she gulped, her heart singing against her ears. "Never mind. See you later."

He warmly smiled.

"Until then."

_She knew it._


	3. The Galaxy

“This sucks,” Kokichi whined, perusing the paper Kirumi handed him with pouty lips. “Why is it me that has to analyse the figures of sound?” He continued and waved his paper around in protest. He glanced at Shuichi who was busy scanning his own paper and tapped his shoulder. Realising that his attempt in gaining his attention had failed, Kokichi groaned and jabbed him on the rib. "Tell them to give me something simple!"

Shuichi winced, taking the paper out of Kokichi’s hands. He skimmed through the text before he placed it back on the table with a sigh. "It’s not that hard."

"But," Kokichi pressed, his eyes all wide and pleadly as his lashes fluttered against his cheekbones. "I don’t wanna do it, Saihara-chaaan."

“What a fuckin’ loser. Why don’t you just agree so we can leave early? You know, I have important stuff to attend to.”

"Ehh, but you’re only doing the theme of the poem."

“So?"

“So you don’t have a say in this.”

Shuichi retrieved the paper from Kokichi’s hand again and faced Kirumi with an apologetic stare. "Is it okay if Ouma-kun works with me?"

Kirumi sighed, staring at Kokichi, who in return gave her a cheeky wink. She ignored it. "Okay fine, but please finish your work in two weeks. This is almost worth half our grade."

They both nodded and turned their attention back to the extract to analyse and discuss their findings; or it was fairer to say the one who was doing that was Shuichi. But at least, for once, Kokichi tried to attentively listen by looking and adding a comment every once in a while. Comments that were actually useful.

"Akamatsu-san," Kirumi waved her hand in front of Kaede, and Kaede finally teared her eyes away from the other two. Once she’d noticed she was paying attention, Kirumi passed her the paper, nonchalant. "Here, you can do this one instead."

Kaede scanned the group to see they already sat in pairs, slowly taking it from her. “You’re doing it with Miu-chan and Ouma-kun is paired up with Saihara-kun. So that leaves me to do it by myself, right?" 

“Aren’t you doing it with Amami-kun?” Kirumi casually asked, slipping her paper into a plastic file before she inserted it inside her folder. “He called me this morning to ask if there was a vacant spot in our group. I thought he would have told you by now.”

Confused, Kaede asked, "aren’t each groups supposed to have five members? Wasn’t there a group that needed another one?"

"All groups already have five students and sir clarified that it was okay for him to join us.” She said. “And since you’re neighbours, can you let him know as soon as you get home that you’ve been paired up? It’s best if you start early. This project is more complex than I had first imagined."

Kaede agreed and returned back to her seat as her fingers fished inside her back pocket to pull out her phone, swiftly unlocking it with her index finger. Looking at the notification bar, she saw that there weren’t any new messages, but then quickly remembered she'd left Rantarou on read because he'd sent her a message way too early in the morning she didn't bother properly reading it.

Mentally chastising herself for letting sleep overtake her, she navigated through her messages to open it once more.

> [3:30] **Amaa-chan** : I can't sleep, how about you? Btw, don’t forget to let me know if I end up missing something important tomorrow in class. Can't afford to fall behind you haha.

Kaede’s fingers hovered above the keys for a while, nibbling on her bottom lip. Guilt piled up inside of her the more time had ticked. She couldn’t deny that she was slow when she'd to reply back to others, and that was something she genuinely hoped to improve on. But it was also a known fact that Rantarou was just as bad as her; sometimes even taking two days to reply back to simple questions that even Asahi wouldn't struggle with. Something like, 'what is the answer to one plus one' could take him a decade.

> [16:05] **Kaede** : And since when were you in front of me? You haven’t missed much though, don't worry!! Ah and Tojo-san said we have to work together on the project.

After having pressed the 'send' button, she assumed he would do take a while to say anything and opted to check her phone once she had arrived home; in case she got lucky enough to receive something by then. But to her surprise, she felt her phone vibrate against her desk. Her screen lit up a second after she'd locked it.

He must have been really bored to have had replied back this quickly, she mused, and hurried herself to open it, which didn’t happen all that often either. 

> [16:06] **Amaa-chan** : I am just going to assume that you haven’t looked at the date at all today to be _this_ clueless. but since you tend to be like that, it was to be expected lol. I'll be home tomorrow morning and because it’s a saturday come over around 9am so we can start.

-x-

Her fingers curled around her blanket, and she huddled her shoulders together as much as she could to gather up some warmth to lull herself back asleep. But the sounds of Asahi banging his little fists against her door left her without much of a choice but to force herself up. Kaede had initially planned to stay engraved in her bed for the entirety of the morning until the afternoon to replenish her energy. But she knew best to fight against her urges. And also because she knew Rantarou would wake her up if she didn't show up.

She groaned, ignoring the annoying and presisting feeling inside her chest and peeled herself away from her cushions. She rubbed the sleep away from her eyes and unlocked her phone, blinking to the light to adjust them to it. The clock read 8:40, and she breathed in relief once she saw that she’d enough time to get ready, departing from her bed with a leap. As soon as she was finished and collected her stuff, she went downstairs to be greeted by Asahi, who was already sitting at the table as he shot her a cheeky grin; as if what he’d done played in his favour. And just beside him, next to the stove, stood her mother.

"You’re finally awake, sister."

"Well, you did do me a favour by waking me up early. Good thing you didn’t leave yet." Kaede replied, patting him on the head as thanks. He gave her a dissatisfied grunt in return, of course, disappointed with the reaction he received after the trouble he made himself go through.

"Where are you going this early in the morning?" Her mother asked and flipped the pancake. She then grabbed a plate, handing Kaede her share of food.

"Rantarou’s house," she answered, snatching the syrup from the table. "We have a project to work on. It needs a lot of time so we thought we would start early."

“Ah, that reminds me. He went to his mother’s birthday party, right?” She continued, dropping sugar into her cup of tea. “Are you going to see her as well?”

Kaede sighed, still disappointed in herself for forgetting. “No. She didn’t come this year because she was busy." She said. "I forgot about it myself so I didn’t get her a present.”

“Strange,” her mother mused, intently staring at Kaede behind the brim of her cup. “You never forget. And even if you did, Rantarou-chan always reminded you. I wonder what gives?”

Kaede sighed and shrugged. “I don’t know? Maybe they just wanted to have some family time.”

“But you _are_ their family Kaede.” Her mother replied. “Just like Rantarou is for us as well.”

“Yeah, yeah.” She waved it off.

Her mother blinked. It seemed as though she wanted to say more on the matter but then shifted the topic. Thank God. Kaede let out a breath. "So you’re going to work on a project, is it?"

She merely hummed, mouth too stuffed to formulate an answer.

"Can’t you…search the poem on the internet and find the answers on there?" Her mother casually asked and turned off the stove. She took a seat on the table alongside Kaede and Asahi. Kaede huffed.

"I would much rather do the analysing on my own. Besides, if I really wanted to search it on the internet, it would be impossible. Our teacher made sure to choose the least known ones, so even if we were to search it, we wouldn’t find anything."

"That’s a bummer."

"Mum," she laughed. "Do you want me to cheat my way through?"

"No, of course not," she shook her head, leisurely taking a sip from her cup of tea to savour its piquancy. "I just thought scanning some results would make it easier for you guys. I know my daughter is capable of anything. Rantarou-kun, too."

Kaede half smiled before she finished her last piece and hurriedly left with a stacked folder she figured they might find useful once they started working. She knew she was running 10 minutes late the second she had stepped out of the door, which for once, she thought would be fine. Rantarou sometimes woke up late himself, especially when he travelled back from his mother’s house.

"Tarou?" She called after she'd opened the door and slowly closed it behind her, trying to not make a sound in case he was still asleep.

She immediately took note of the emptiness and quietness of the house, when it normally felt so warm and welcoming. But then again, it didn’t surprise her at all.There were times his sisters didn’t come home so they could spend more time with their mother; their father was strict and the times he’d permitted them to travel to their mother were incredibly sparse — so it only made sense they wanted to expand it a little more. How long they’d stayed didn’t matter to him, so long they made it back for school on time. 

His sisters always got along with their mother, always receiving gifts of all sorts, as well as her affection; they understood each other on amazing level, a lot more than Rantarou did with her, in fact.

And sometimes, that had upset Kaede, she would be damned if she had said it hadn’t. Especially when he took her with him and she saw with her very eyes how he was a lot more quiet and reserved than he typically was around her. Or in any other situation really.

Kaede placed her folder on the table, and before she could sit down, Rantarou peeked his head through the door. His toothbrush hang lowly from his slightly ajar mouth, and his hair hadn’t been brushed yet, resembling a bird nest as they fell in a messy pile across his forehead. 

She could barely make the outline of his eyes, but she could tell he was faintly smiling through them. "Fashionably late as always." He said, his voice muffled because of the obstruction his toothbrush created. For someone that wasn't much of a morning person, his tone was happy and chirpy. It was a surprise, but she welcomed it.

“And same with you, constantly appearing out of nowhere.” She replied and Rantarou shook his head with a smile.

Kaede stared at him for a moment to take a better look at the mess atop his head. As messy as Rantarou’s hair could be at times; this type of hairstyle suited him, too. And slowly, she let her eyes travel down to involuntarily trail on his left collarbone that was revealed because of the stretched outline of his shirt.

Rantarou caught his toothbrush between his hand and continued to brush, all the while he stared back at her funny, as if he wanted to say something, but whatever that was, it didn’t come out.

"By now, you should’ve gotten used to that." He finally said.

She raised a brow. “Don’t worry. I have.”

And with time, she had. Something like this usually startled her and definitely used to when they were younger, to the point that her heart would momentarily stop beating. Now, however, she’d become so accustomed of how little sounds he made that it didn't faze her anymore. Kaede followed him to his bedroom once he'd ushered her upstairs, and placed her stuff on the chabudai, settling down on the carpet. "So, when did you return back?"

"Last night," he replied and sat down beside her with a bag packed with snacks of all sorts. He pushed it towards her with a sly smile, knowing she must have been eagerly waiting for him to bring her some from his trip. "Around 9 at night."

"That’s late. Didn’t you normally come around 6 in the evening?"

"Yeah. The plan was to come home around 4, but my sisters insisted we stayed a bit more and my mother suggested we stayed for another day instead." He stretched his arms. “And they agreed.”

"And you didn’t?"

He shook his head. "I didn’t want to."

Kaede frowned, clearly not happy with his decision. "Why did you do that? Your relationship with her has been rocky lately. She might end up thinking you don’t like her anymore." She reasoned and threw him a candy.

He gave her a brief look from the side and swiftly caught the candy with his hand, tearing its packaging to pop it inside his mouth. "I don’t think so," he responded, and pulled at the muscles of the lower part of his face to force a smile. Or at least, that’s what she’d assumed. Probably was right as well. "She knows I have schoolwork to focus on and to be honest, I would much rather be here. It's more fun."

"But still..."

"You don’t have to worry about it, welp. I told you I was okay, and I am sure mum understands as well. I told her I had a lot of things I needed to take care of." He said, pulling at her cheeks; the pull causing the pout on her face to dissipate. "Enough talking about my trip though, can we start on the project?"

Kaede gave him a questioning gaze but didn’t say anything. She then grabbed the folder she’d prepared and passed it to him without objecting. "I don’t know how we will end up starting this though, there’s so much I would like to ask you."

He chuckled, scanning the instructions as he chewed on his lip. "It’s always the same stories and tales. Nothing fascinating," he replied and circled some lines that stood out to him. "Instead of telling you how my trip went, how about I give you a gift?" He offered her cheekily. "I got you one."

“A gift?”

He hummed.

"What is it?" Kaede asked, excited.

He smiled and his shoulders slightly dropped. He looked somewhat relieved once she'd asked, and left, shortly returning back with a huge, pristine envelope resting between his grip. He handed it to her, and sat down beside her with his legs crossed.

Her fingers carefully traced the flaps of the envelope before she tore it open, making sure to be delicate and gentle since the decor was so pleasing to look at. She then pulled out the content that was inside, which happened to be a bunch of images she couldn’t yet see since they faced the opposite direction. She swiftly turned it around with a flick of the wrist and then...her heart skipped a beat.

"They’re so pretty! How did you get these?!"

He rubbed his nose with a grin, rather proud of himself. "Remember when I told you my uncle was also into astronomy? I asked him if he could give me some pictures he’d taken since he had many stacked away in his storage." He explained. "He handpicked some of his favourites. I did as well, but only a few."

Kaede bit her lips, almost on the verge of tears as she adjacently placed an image after the next on the table to take a better look at them. She was beyond pleased with the gift she’d received, and if someone asked her to express her current feelings into words; she wouldn’t be able to do it even if she’d tried. No words would be able to help her express it.

She had gone through so much trouble to have her voice heard by her mother when she'd told her that her passion was astronomy; Rantarou was the only one that stood beside her. He was the one who respected her decisions and encouraged and supported her in his own ways when others wouldn’t listen to her.

She absentmindedly stared at the images and blinked a few times to readjust her vision. How could she be _so_ blindly stupid?

"I am sorry." She apologised and Rantarou blanched, obviously not expecting such words to come out of her. Naturally, he would shrug off her apologies since she had this tendency to apologise even if she didn’t need to, but this time, he knew it wasn’t the same so his eyebrows came together.

"What’s the matter Kaede?" He finally asked, and placed a hand on her leg. She shook her head, ashamed.

It took a little while for her to answer, mainly because of the way her jaw trembled. But Rantarou seemed to understand and did not usher her to explain herself. He always understood.

Her fingers clenched and she heavily breathed before she finally managed to spew some words out of her system. “I should've never doubted you."

This only added up to Rantarou's confusion and he caught his bottom lip between his teeth. "Kaede, please try to elaborate. I won’t understand if you're not clear." He said, leaning a bit closer to search her face. His eyes darted from her eyes to her wobbling lips before it crawled back up. He sucked in a breath, "could it be that my gift wasn't good? Or could it be that something happened with your mother while I was gone and it made you remember?" He’d asked, genuinely trying to understand what could have morphed her emotions just like that; all within the snap of a finger.

But it wasn’t that. It was the fact that she'd doubted him that bothered her. What bothered her was that the thought dared to cross her mind, as if he would have the audacity to do something like that to her. After everything they'd gone through together, it felt like an insult to him.

"No it’s just," she paused, blinking at the ground. Her nails dug deep into her skin and Rantarou probably noticed, because a second later, his hand was on top of hers and squeezed it in support. As if he didn’t want her to hurt herself as she’d tried to explain herself. "You know the confession letter in my locker … That was you, wasn’t it?"

He nodded, a little bit reluctant though, as if he didn’t understand what this had to do with anything. "Yeah, of course. Why would you ask that out of the blue?"

"It’s just," she stopped for a second and gulped; loud enough she thought if he’d strained his ears a little he would’ve been able to hear it.

"I just— I thought that, well, it wasn’t for serious."

“ _Huh?_ ”

“I said,” Kaede paused for a second. “I didn’t think it was serious.”

"What do you mean you thought it wasn’t serious?" Rantarou asked, his voice as blank and inscrutable as it could get. "You thought … I was just joking? Like pulling a prank?"

Kaede opted on staying quiet; which efficiently managed to answer the question he’d asked because slowly, she felt Rantarou shift, and his hand was no longer holding her own. She winced.

Sure, she felt terrible once she could no longer feel his warmth anymore. But it didn't hurt her as hard as she thought it would, because she definitely saw this happening the second she told him the truth. After all, she did say she thought it was some sort of joke. Of course that would hurt him. At least that much she’d known.

"Why would you think that?"

"Remember the time I told you I would love to have someone confess to me through writing?" He nodded, attentively listening to her. "Well, I just… remembered how you once told me you would never like me that way so...” She paused. God, she was ridiculous. “We tend to prank each other a lot. you know? that’s why I thought..." Her words trailed off. "I shouldn’t have but I…. I wasn’t thinking clearly, I just..."

"And you thought I would do something like that to you?" He finished for her in her stead, his lips tilting.

"No it’s just..."

"I know that’s not what you meant." Rantarou commented once he noticed Kaede’s shoulders tense up. "But I would never do that, so I am bit disappointed you thought of me that way. I am not going to lie." He continued and wiped the tears that streamed down her cheeks with his thumb in a swift swipe. "Trust me. I would never do something like that to you. Ever."

"Yeah, sorry."

He nodded, returning the hand that was on her cheek back to the side once he’d realised it lingered on there for a little too long. Kaede frowned, but knew he did it with her in his mind. Somewhere in his thoughts, he probably wondered if that had made her feel uncomfortable.

Determined, she moved forward to grab his hand and gave it a squeeze between her two hands. He ceased to rub the back of his neck and his eyes flitted open, surprised.

"Does that mean I can still give you an answer, Rantarou?" She asked, squeezing his hand a little more.

He blinked.

"If you’re willing to give me an answer, I will listen." He mumbled, looking at their hands as if he was still processing the event. Then, Rantarou elevated his head, returning the gaze and looked more serious than he did before. And a little flustered as well, but just a little. Anyone that hadn’t known him as well as she did would probably miss it.

"But, don’t you think it would be more appropriate to give you an answer using a piece of paper? Since you sent me a letter?"

Rantarou frowned. "I think it’s the same either way. It’s easier to just do it right now, don’t you think so as well?" He wondered and dropped his head when he didn’t receive an answer and looked at her with a lopsided smile. His smile curled into a smirk. He got her. "You look a bit nervous though, so I can see why you would propose this." He added teasingly and shifted back, staring her in the eye. "I will make this easier for you.” He trailed. “Do you want us together?"

Kaede pressed her lips into a thin line. But then she smiled, unable to fight it back and nodded her head.

"See? Better than grabbing a paper and pencil, wasn’t it?"

she had meant to come up with a retort but decided against it. That could wait. "You’re right," she admitted. "I never thought you would end up liking me though..."

Rantarou didn’t say anything to that so she decided to continue, her fingers prespirating.

"I mean we went from childhood friends to _this._ It’s kind of strange." Kaede laughed, rubbing her sweaty palms together. "I have always watched shows where childhood friends were in a relationship once they grew up. I never once thought that would be us one day."

“Who said we were a couple though?”

“Are we not?” Kaede’s head shot up.

Rantarou smiled, his eyes twinkling and sneakily slipped a hand around her waist. Kaede could feel his chest firmly press onto her back, her heart starting to beat like a jungle drum.

“I was just joking,” he laughed. "To be honest, I didn’t see us becoming a possibility either. Although I had hoped for it." Rantarou replied and Kaede could feel his warm breath against her neck as he spoke. He was more warm then she’d imagined he was.

“Since when did you…?”

“You’re just dense.” He replied back. “You’re incredibly, incredibly dense.”

She pouted.

"Don’t you think we should start working on the project now?" Rantarou asked.

"Maybe but later."

“I knew we wouldn’t get anything done if we’ve got partnered up.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally meant to be a oneshot but decided to divide it into three parts. I haven't posted any amamatsu for nearly a year so yeah, super glad to be sharing something after such a long time. ^^


End file.
